1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is safeties for handguns, both automatic and revolver, installed externally upon the handgun frame.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is very important that there be safety devices on guns, both handguns and rifles, to prevent their accidental firing. However, of the two, it is perhaps the handgun where safeties are most important because practically the only method of carrying a handgun is in one's hand, and certainly the only comfortable method is to grasp the handgun as one would use it to shoot, i.e., with a finger within the trigger guard. A riffle may be grasped and carried by merely holding the stock of the rifle without having one's finger on the trigger or within the encircling trigger guard found both on rifles and handguns.
There are various type of safeties on handguns. On automatics, i.e., a handgun employing a slide mounted upon a frame, the slide travels to the rear (relative to the frame) to eject a spent cartridge and then returns to load a fresh bullet into the firing chamber, internal and external safeties has been manufactured into the handgun. Most of these safeties have been internal type safeties wherein the hammer (concealed within the handgun frame and slide) is physically interrupted by a mechanical device to inhibit travel of that hammer. This mechanical device may be actuated by a push button protruding through the outside surface of the frame or, perhaps, by a suitable boss protruding outwardly from the surface of the handle which may be slide operated by a finger.
Other methods have been utilized such as that employed in the Glock brand handguns wherein the trigger itself has a safety trigger riding within a longitudinal slot formed in the main trigger. Here, the operator's finger must be securely upon the primary or main trigger as well as upon the safety trigger in order to release a catch mechanism operably attached to the safety trigger. In addition, as is common in many automatic handguns, a safety working with the slide of the handgun may be present. In these cases, the slide may be placed into a locked position such that in order to make the handgun fireable, the trigger must be pulled, the slide fully retracted and then permitted to go forward. The trigger must then be released and then pulled again before the handgun will fire.
In revolver type handguns, where the hammer is readily visible on the frame, a safely is employed whereby the hammer may be retracted a small portion of its full movement to the rear where it latches with the safety mechanism. At that point, the trigger itself may not be pulled rearward to fire at all. To fire the revolver, a hand movement of the hammer must be made to retract the hammer to its farthest rotated position where it is held. Then when the trigger is pulled, the hammer will proceed to pivot forward to discharge the cartridge held in the chamber.
Since the Glock automatic handgun has been on the market for the last few years or so, there has been extremely high interest in this pistol, especially in the 9 mm version. It has been adopted by many police forces, and to some extent by the military. However, the handgun is alleged by many to suffer from deficiencies in that the safety mechanisms upon the gun to prevent accidental discharge are inadequate. There is much controversy over this issue. In support of the handgun, the Glock does have the safety trigger mentioned above functioning with its main trigger as one safety mechanism, and it does employ an internal safety mechanism as well.
Nevertheless, there have been accidental discharges of the Glock handgun which have resulted in numerous articles questioning whether the safeties provided on the handgun are sufficient. For example, the September 1990 issue of GUNS Magazine had a special report upon the Glock handgun and in that report had an article in which it was stated that since there is no safety latch to keep the trigger from being pressed back, it is imperative that the Glock be carried in a holster that covers the trigger and trigger guard.
The need for an external safety upon the Glock handgun, as well as other automatic and revolver type handguns, to prevent accidental firing is obvious. An external safety which physically interrupts the backward movement of the trigger will prevent accidental firing and it is to this need this invention is directed.
Accordingly, it is readily apparent that the safe handling of handguns is enhanced if handguns, both automatics and revolvers, have an external safely which physically impedes the pulling of the trigger.
It is also obvious that in some handguns there is need for apparatus which physically impedes the movement of the trigger to prevent an accidental discharge of the gun or to prevent any suggestion of accidental discharge.